Tory leader at County Hall Geoff Driver insists we will – he’s already committed to re-opening the libraries closed by the council last year.

There’s no word yet on whether he plans to re-open Helmshore Textile Museum, also closed last year as part of cuts.

He was, however, a vocal opponent of the closure plans for the museum, and vowed to fight them.

And that, in a nutshell, is the challenge awaiting the Tories as they seek to make their mark on County Hall once again.

Over the past four years, the Tories have never missed an opportunity to criticise Labour spending plans.

Their rhetoric has been simple: You’re not spending money wisely.

Indeed, one Tory election leaflet I saw talked of Labour leaving a ‘hole’ in the finances of the county council to the tune of many millions of

pounds.

Lancashire County Council Conservative group leader Geoff Driver

There was no mention of the fact that hole has been caused by the slashing of tens of millions of pounds from Government grants to the council.

Now, it’s the Conservatives who need to grapple with those savings, and the very stark reality that, according to council officers, the authority will effectively be bust within three years unless something changes on the funding front.

While the political colours flying in Preston might have changed, the officers leading the council day in, day out will still be doing what they always do – offering their advice based on their knowledge and expertise. And that presumably means their advice on the funding situation at the council won’t change.

What are the things the Tories think the county council spent money on badly?

And more importantly, can they somehow recoup that cash if it is still being spent today? Is it possible that a Conservative-led council will get a better hearing from government than the previous Labour-led one did?

Someone, somewhere needs to make the government realise that council services are in severe risk because of the cuts being made.

If the government doesn’t listen, it won’t be a case of re-opening facilities such as libraries for the betterment of the community so much as having to axe something somewhere else to fund it.

The challenge for Rossendale’s Tory contingent of county councillors is simple: Make sure Rossendale gets listened to.

Regular readers of this column will know I feel Rossendale gets a raw deal from County Hall.

That’s not a political view – I don’t think the previous Tory administration prior to 2013 particularly looked out for Rossendale either.

It’s not just a case of getting our fair share of stuff either – but making sure the county council is prepared to fight for us.

For example, the government has paid scant regard to local concerns about fracking near Blackpool, something which is cause for concern for many here in Rossendale as this area could be a rich place for fracking in the future.

The Tories have made many promises about what they’d have done if they had been in charge over the past four years.

What happens next will be fascinating.

The results in Rossendale made for interesting reading.

It’s not often a councillor increases the number of votes they get but still lose their seat.

That’s what happened to Rossendale East county councillor Jackie Oakes, who lost her seat for Labour to Tory Jimmy Eaton.

This year, she lost Mid Rossendale by just eight votes to Tory David Foxcroft, despite polling 2,194 votes.

It was a straight two-way fight this year, compared to a battle against UKIP and the Lib Dems last time.

In Whitworth, just 17 votes separated Tory winner Peter Steen from second-placed Sean Serridge, who in turn polled more than he did in 2013.

UKIP and the Lib Dems also disappeared from Rossendale South this time, although the Greens did stand.

Tory Anne Cheetham held on to her seat there, and polled 1,852 votes – up 400 on last time.

Second-placed Steve Hughes for Labour, also polled more than Labour did in 2013 as more voters turned out overall.

UKIP and the Lib Dems didn’t make it into Rossendale West either, where David Stansfield for the Tories retained his seat, and doubled the number of votes he polled, while Labour candidate Lisa Bloor collected 600 more votes than Labour did in 2013.

Overall, voter turnout was up, which is good – but at between 30 per cent and 40 pc, it does make you wonder why more people can’t be bothered.

Did you vote?

If so, did you vote on national or local issues when casting your ballot?

Certainly it’s hard to work out what drove the vote in Padiham, just outside Rossendale, which became the only council seat in the country where UKIP actually won a new council place!

Unless Padiham is very different to the rest of the country, that surely has to be about local issues and local candidates?

As for the rest of us, other than the odd leaflet here or there, how much information did we have to go on prior to polling day?

I’ve no idea what the Tories plan to do in County Hall, other than that they didn’t like what Labour had done.

The sad thing when people vote along national lines is that good local councillors lose out.

Without being political, there are several of Rossendale’s county councillors who have now lost their jobs who, as far as I could tell, did their best for the area.

Whether their replacements will be able to do any better will be as much about how interested County Hall is in Rossendale as much as anything else!